Episode 305: The Human Design Clock: Aligning Daily Routines for More Energy and Flow
Did you know your daily routine can feel radically different—and more aligned—when you honor your Human Design? In this episode, we’re diving into the Human Design Clock, a framework that helps you structure your day based on your natural energy patterns. Whether you’re a morning go-getter or someone who thrives in quiet, reflective evenings, this concept can help you harness your energy, reduce overwhelm, and live in greater alignment.
You’ll learn how to:
Identify the natural flow of energy in your Human Design type
Build routines that work with your energy, not against it
Avoid the common pitfalls of rigid schedules that leave you feeling drained
If you’ve ever struggled to make daily routines stick, this episode will help you craft ones that truly work for you.
Listen to the Episode:
Mentioned in the Episode:
Episode 303: Decoding Decision Fatigue: Authority-Specific Strategies
Episode 304: Energy Leaks in Human Design: How to Spot and Stop Them
Connect with Naomi:
Connect on Instagram
“Trying to make something work that doesn’t align with your design ultimately isn’t going to work. It’ll become a source of friction, of tension and ultimately become an energy leak.”
Read the Transcript:
We all know what it feels like to try a new routine--when they’re too rigid they just don't work.
Think about a time that you tried to start something new—a new morning routine, a new exercise routine, or a new way of eating, and then feeling like no matter what you did or how hard you tried, it just didn’t work out.
It’s because cookie-cutter routines that we’re inundated with, over and over again, don't work for everyone.
There was a time where I was so convinced that waking up at 5 am daily, meditating and journaling (remember Early Morning Pages?), then going out for a run—I was convinced that that was the ideal morning routine. I blogged about it a lot back in my blogging days and I bet I even advocated for something like it in the early days of this podcast, gosh, eight years ago now.
But as we learn, we evolve, yet we’re repeatedly fed society norms, over and over again that one size fits all approaches work for everyone. That there’s only certain ways of doing things.
But where does our individuality fit in? We're all different – different bodies, different genetics, different life situations, different needs, different ways that our energy flows.
In my Human Design Readings, I share an approximate breakdown of population by Type: Manifestors make up about 10% of the population, Projectors make up about 20% of the population. Reflectors make up only 1% of the population, and then there’s Generators, who make up about 35% of the population, and Manifesting Generators make up about 35% of the population. Collectively, 70% of the population has Defined Sacral Centers.
So, it’s no wonder that societal norms expect everyone to operate as if we all have Defined Sacral Centers, the defining aspect of Generators and Manifesting Generators.
Well, we know that this simply isn’t the case. And that’s why, trying to follow a new routine that doesn’t align with how your energy flows won’t stick.
And trying to force it to happen only leaves you feeling like there's something wrong with you, that you’re not strong enough, don't have enough willpower, but really, it's because you’re trying to follow someone else's design.
I see this happening a lot, especially with social media. There are influencers everywhere. People you want to be like, look like them, eat like them, workout like them, do what they do.
Listen, I think it’s fantastic to find new ideas of how to do things. We all have a natural curiosity to see how other people do things, what they use, and how they use it.
But trying to make something work that doesn’t align with your design ultimately isn’t going to work. It’ll become a source of friction, of tension and ultimately become an energy leak.
Having awareness of your Human Design provides context into why something won’t work for you.
Awareness can also shed context on how to process what you consume, what context to put the things that you see in, so that while you consume, you also know what’s correct for you and what’s not.
I used to get up at the crack of dawn for a 6 am workout at the gym or out on a run because I held the belief that “the early bird catches the worm” Then I would rush home, in a stressful flurry to hop in the shower, get myself together, and out the door to get to the office in time (this was back when I used to go into an office for work).
Every day was a grind, and when I had to skip a day and deviate from this schedule, I’d beat myself up for not being “strong enough” or thought that I wasn’t “committed enough.” I had this idea that “I’d ruin everything” if I didn't stick to my training plan 100% of the time.
Knowing now that I’m a Splenic Projector, I now understand that that kind of schedule—that grind—wasn’t suited for how my energy functions. It’s no wonder that I was injured all the time – I was pushing myself beyond my capacity and ultimately found myself in massive burnout.
Now, all this being said, I think having routines are great. I thrive on routines, but it has to be the right routine for me and that’s why its crucial to understand your Human Design clock.
You have a natural energy flow with peaks and valley. Your energy ebbs and flows throughout the day according to your Type. Aligning your daily routines—your morning routine, evening routine, workout routine, all of it, to your Type—is the best productivity hack for you.
I’m a big nerd when it comes to planning and organization. Whenever I see a post with a productivity hack or a new planning app or even just seeing photos of someone organizing themselves with calendars and Post-Its, I get super excited – I am pulled in!
But ultimately the best thing I can do to improve my productivity is to align my daily actions with my Project energy because aligning with your Human Design is how you reduce stress and tension, unlock ease and live in flow.
Let's break this down by Human Design Type so you can understand what I mean.
Projectors’ energy comes in bursts – it ebbs and flows. As a Projector I can attest to this--my energy has peaks then moments when it bottoms out and I have to lie down for a few moments.
The best way I can explain this is with workouts. I started doing Pvolve workouts (if you’re not familiar with Pvolve, it’s a combination of strength, Pilates, yoga and low impact cardio) about two months ago. There are three different paces of workouts: Slow and Steady, Ebbs and Flows, and Fast-Paced.
The ebbs and flows are my favorite because its about having a burst of energy moment in the workout that’s quickly followed by moments of recovery. That’s how Projector energy works.
I find that for a lot of Projectors that I know and have worked with, the energy burst usually comes in the mid-late mornings or early afternoons. So, the key to aligning with the Projector’s “clock” is to schedule the most important work or thing in your during the time your energy is likely to peak and then have downtime scheduled and give yourself space to recuperate from it.
In fact, the best thing to do would be to find ways to infused pockets of rest throughout your day. Rest doesn't have to be a nap. You may not be able to take a mid-day nap.
Rest can look like taking a moment of quiet for yourself to let your mind settle and take a mental break. It can look like doing breathing exercises to calm your nervous system. It could be taking a walk break. If you can grab a power nap, take one! However, you're able to incorporate rest throughout your day.
A Projector clock can also look like spending the morning in reflection--going inward, maybe planning your day. Then allocate time for your most important work--what requires the most brain power--creative work, whatever it be, schedule that for early afternoon, or when you find the highpoint of your energy is.
This is what my “clock” looks like for me. I do my best work around lunchtime or shortly after lunch, and if possible, this is when I schedule important meetings or conversations, time to work on big projects.
Then designate evenings for winding down, which is what we're supposed to do.
In my early health coaching days, I’d end work for my day job and then spend every evening creating my website, writing blog posts, creating programs. People often commented about the amount of content I was creating and the pace of which I was pumping it out. And guess what? This wasn't how my Human Design clock works so it was no surprise that my energy tanked. Ironic, right?
While intellectually we know this, sometimes, it’s hard to see it happening for ourselves until it's too late. We have so many layers of conditioning that it’s easy to unintentionally miss the clues, so it’s always helpful to have a little bit of support to recognize the messages.
Having an objective perspective can be so helpful but you may not have someone who can provide that. So, for me, the external support has come from my Oura Ring.
I've been using my Oura ring for four years and it's truly been life-changing in helping me understand the ebbs and flows of my energy.
It’s helped me understand when my body has sufficiently recovered from the previous day which clues me into how to go about scheduling my day and what kind of workout to do as well.
That’s really helped me to get to know my body and understand “how” to listen to it by correlating the messages that my body sends me with valid data.
The byproduct of this is that I’ve also gotten to know my Splenic Authority. My Splenic hits—my instincts—are validated and correlated with the metrics from my Oura Ring and it’s confirmed to me time and time again that my instincts are pretty much always spot on.
I wake up in the morning and intuitively know if it should be a low-key recovery day, or if I should—to quote the football coach Jim Harbaugh—“attack the day with an enthusiasm unknown to mankind”!
For Generators and Manifesting Generators, your energy flows best when you're doing what you love. This is how you avoid fatigue and burnout—to do what you love—because nothing drains your energy faster than doing things that you don’t love.
So, what does this mean for the Generator and Manifesting Generators’ Human Design clock? Your productivity hack is to follow your sacral response and know what you enjoy doing because when you’re doing it, you’re making more of that infectious, contagious joyous energy that Generator and Manifesting Generators are known for.
This can look like getting up in the morning and checking in with your Sacral energy. Remember, the Sacral Center is binary, so it responds to “yes or no”, “this or that.”
This is how you check in with your Sacral center and let your Sacral response guide you. Schedule your key tasks for when your energy feels at its highest.
For Manifestors, like Projectors, your energy also has spontaneous bursts of energy because you also have an Undefined Sacral Center.
So, like Projectors, you also need downtime. The Manifestors that I know, when they power through by the end of their day, they’re dead tired. In fact, sometimes they even need a couple days to recover.
The Manifestors that have come to understand this about their energy have made changes to their schedule and established boundaries to protect themselves from this kind of burnout.
This is their best productivity hack—to understand how their energy works, understand their limits and put up boundaries around their schedule.
Tune into your Authority (and this goes for all Types) and let it guide you.
For Reflectors, because you have so much openness in your design, flexibility is so important for you. Your energy cycles are likely more varied than the other Types so give yourself the space and the permission to allow flexibility in your daily routines.
Check in with yourself as to how you feel every day and let your clock be flexible. Then, allow that flexibility to flow into your environment meaning--let your environment inform what your daily routine looks like on any given day.
So, as I earlier mentioned, I used to start every day with a 6 am workout. That was my routine, but it also resulted in adrenal fatigue and severe burnout.
Now that I know and understand my Human Design, I understand how my Projector energy works, and I also understand my Authority so my Human Design clock like waking up naturally (don't need an alarm clock) and checking in with myself, relying on my Splenic instincts to guide how I go about my day. I can intuitively tell if I've recovered from the day before (and my Oura Ring validates my instincts) and this determines what workout I do that day—how intense of a workout I do, or if I take a complete rest day altogether.
I do have an idea of how I want my day or week to go, what things need to be done, but I allow myself flexibility for if my energy feels low, if I need more downtime or rest time than usual.
I might go to bed thinking that I’ll do a kickboxing workout the next day but when I wake up, I immediately know if it’s a “go” or if it’s “let’s adjust and do something else.”
I let my Splenic Authority guide me, and I encourage you to let your Authority guide you.
This week I’d love for you to make one tiny adjustment to your routine this week based on your Human Design clock because if you feel that you're pushing and pushing something just isn't working out or doesn't feel right to you, let it go, release it.
Go back to your Human Design clock and check-in with your Authority to guide you that maybe there's another way to go about doing that thing, or maybe it's just not the correct thing for you to do.
Because when you don't follow your Authority and you continue to push it becomes an energy leak, which is what we talked about in the last episode, Episode 304. If you haven't listened to it yet, I'll include a link to it in the show notes for this episode that you can find at www.livefablife.com/305, for Episode 305.
The bottom line is routines and habits are great. I love them because they relieve mental pressure that I feel from having an Undefined Head Center. Routines reduce decision fatigue, the topic of Episode 303, but it has to be the correct routine, done in the correct timing that aligns with your Human Design clock.
Like how I packed so many things into my morning routine that by the time I got to work, I was already frazzled, tired and in a bad mood, which set the vibe for the rest of my day.
If your daily routines don’t align with your Human Design clock, your days don’t go well, and you consistently feel your Not-Self because your energy isn’ flowing.
So, Generators and Manifesting Generators, do what you love and follow your Sacral responses.
Projectors, Manifestors, and Reflectors, don't ignore your rest cycles. Your rest cycle is going to look unique to you, but make sure you're honoring it.
And if you need a little bit more support to learn how to recognize the messages your body sends you, don’t be afraid to use tools to help you, like how I’ve used my Oura Ring.
To recap, your Human Design clock is the concept of honoring your energy by restructuring your daily routines around how your energy naturally flows.
Your energy is unique, and when you honor its flow, you'll naturally create routines that feel effortless and supportive, and that’s what a routine should feel like.
If this conversation resonated with you, share it with someone you know who might be struggling with their daily routines, and if you want help creating your own routines and aligning them to your Human Design clock reach out to me--I love to guide you with that.
Thank you so much as always for listening. I always appreciate your time, energy and attention, and I'll see you right back here again next time. Bye, for now!
Naomi Nakamura is a Health x Human Design coach who’s creating a healthier society through aligned energy.
She blends a bespoke mix of Functional Nutrition and Human Design to help others shift into alignment to leverage and correctly manage their energy to support their body, mind, and spirit.
She believes that when we embrace our authenticity and lean into our bio-individuality, we naturally live a life of freedom, empowerment, and optimal health.
Naomi resides in the San Francisco Bay Area and can often be found exploring the area with her puppy girl, Coco Pop!
Connect with Naomi on: Instagram
| Pinterest
